Anyone who has AEV 2” spacer lift??help

[elPollero]

Purchased the AEV 2” spacer lift. I called a local shop about cost for installation.
He said he believed I was gonna need adjustable track bar for this lift on front . And a relocation bracket or adjustable track bar on the back.
Anyone who has installed this lift see the necessity for the adjustable track bar.

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[Klicht87]

I had this kit installed without the adjustable trackbar and it rode fine. I did notice my axle was off a little bit but not really enough to warrant an adjustable trackbar. I've since removed the aev kit for the teraflex level as my plans changed. I'll let others chime in on whether they installed one or not but I don't think I read anyone that did.

 

[Sarge502]

Not only did I just recently install this kit myself. Prior to, did extensive research due to the fact of also, considering the AEV full Dual Sport 2.5" suspension lift. I ended up going with the spacer lift instead because pretty much the whole kit was given to me from a friend and I only had to purchase a couple small parts from AEV to make the kit complete.

In any case to answer your question, I can assure you that you do not need an adjustable track bar or or relocation brackets of any kind. Don't get me wrong the axle may be slightly off, but as mentioned above, it's not enough to warrant that. With that said, you can't go wrong by getting an adjustable track bar, even later on. But I assure you that you don't "need" it. Now the AEV Dual Sport 2.5 lift I'd probably recommend one. But even then wouldn't be necessarily a must initially.

Few reference pics during and after install.

 

[Captain Muskie]

Installed mine over a year ago. no adjustable track bar or relocation bracket used. no problems and its my daily driver

 

[Rahkmalla]

If you skip the geometry correction bracket, you'll spend more time steering to stay straight. The gladiator already is a bit low on the caster to begin with. Long drives will become more tiring.

If you skip the trackbars... well the lift is only 2 inches, it shouldn't off-center your truck enough to introduce steering issues on bumps, but you'll always know your truck is off center. That's enough for me, but I'm well aware not everyone shares my same level of pedantry.

I'm always of the opinion that cut corners come back to bite you in the ass, but everyone has different tolerances for things.

 

[Not2Late]

I have the AEV 2" spacer lift on my Mojave. Anytime you add lift, the axles will shift a bit to one side. The more the lift, the more the shift. I'd say 2" is right about the point where you may start to notice it if you look closely. I didn't need an adjustable track bar in the back. But I did notice the front seemed a bit more off than the back. Having mud and dirt hit my gorilla arm hanging out of the driver window drew my attention to it!

I picked up an adjustable front trackbar to install. I haven't done so yet which should tell you how minor the issue is.

I agree with folks' comments about the geo correction brackets. I added the AEV ones. If you were going to do one or the other, I'd spend the money on the geo correction brakets. When installing the spacer lift, it is a convenient time to also add these without having to loosen everything back up down the road.

 

[Camaroboi13]

I went up 2.5" on my JT with no track bars. I finally did track bars once I went to 4.5" lift. My wife's 18 JLU has been lifted 2.5" for 4 plus years on the stock track bars. Just saying.

 

[chorky]

It depends on your level of OCD and desire to do it correctly. Necessary? No. But your axles will be off centered in opposite directions potentially causing dog tracking. Not a ton but it will be there. And if your one to pay attention to the minor details it will be noticeable. My Jeep dealer showed me a customers JL on the mopar 2” as an example that track bars are not needed, and it was far too obvious for me to be ok with it.

i recently put on the 2.5 dualsport and added front and rear adjustable track bars even though the dualsport comes with a rear track bar relocation bracket. I still wanted it to be adjustable to be dead on center. And added teraflex rear geometry correction brackets as well. In my opinion it has made a positive difference

 

[elPollero]

Thanks for all the replies.
I love this forum

 

[willhonkforparts]

Not a bad idea to re-center the axle with an adj. Tb, but 100% not necessary.

 

[Lunentucker]

Trackbar - No
Brackets - Absolutely

I used Rancho brackets. If you want to go cheap you COULD PROBABLY get by with using the Mopar extended control arms that they install with their 2 inch kit, but the brackets let you dial it in.
Middle hole is where I settled... for now.
Drives like a dream and tracks straight and true. No wind drift. No hydroplane drift, which were very prevalent before I installed the brackets.

These rear correction brackets are equally nice. They really helped to plant the rear and eliminate the hopping I would get sometimes on bumpy highways.
https://www.extremeterrain.com/tera...extended-travel-axle-bracket-kit-1938225.html

Links are for reference. Shop around.

 

[elPollero]

Thanks for all the replies.
I love this forum

 

[elPollero]

I already purchased the rancho geometry brackets when I purchased the AEV lift.
Think I may go ahead and let them out the adjustable track bars on.
They recommend the Steer Smart Yeti XD.
Anyone have a negative opinion of that?

 

[chorky]

I already purchased the rancho geometry brackets when I purchased the AEV lift.
Think I may go ahead and let them out the adjustable track bars on.
They recommend the Steer Smart Yeti XD.
Anyone have a negative opinion of that?

the only negative with the steersmarts is if some day you do an AEV rear track bar relocation bracket, a tiny bit, maybe a 1/16th inch of steel on the track bar will need to be shaved down. That happened to me simply because the steersmarts is super thick. But it does not cause any structural concerns and is a very minor thing compared to other possibilities. I got steersmarts yetti XD for the front and rear because they use clevite bushings just like the factory control arms. The plus to this is lower NVH. The downside is more resistance to maximum articulation. But to me low NVH is worth loosing maybe a little bit of articulation. Their pro series uses polyurethane bushings instead of clevite bonded rubber. The plus to those is a longer lifespan. The downside is they typically develop a squeak over time and might require maintenance.

But I dont know if the AEV spacer lift even has a rear track bar relocation bracket so that part may not be an issue. The steersmarts bars are significantly more stout compared to the factory unit

 

[Jeep-of-Eli]

I too just installed AEV 2” spacer for my Mojave over the weekend without track bars, and yes I feel a very slight veering to the right post install which is still acceptable.
Just to caution you that pay attention to which bolts to replace and which ones to keep on this kit. I made a mistake of not RTFM and I re-used the old bolts of the rear passenger sway bar link and ended up stripping the threads on the frame mounts . So now I’m eyeing the Rock jock sway bar kit ?.

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